Why Your Liquor Brand Needs a Voice

Defining the voice of a brand is the perfect way to start an argument between an owner and a marketer. What is it exactly? Is it your content, your story, or the product itself? Without bursting any bubbles or stepping on any toes (too hard), it’s all of those things. The voice of the brand is the identity, the consumer perception, and the way you word your content to evoke a certain reaction. So why does the act of defining a brand voice drive the whole creative team crazy? Because it’s important as hell. 

Let’s take a quick dive into the world of brand marketing and see if we can clear up some of the confusion surrounding the idea of creating a voice and how it can be used to expand your reach.

Using the Voice

Your brand voice stretches across all platforms that interact with customers. From bottle labels to your website, the voice, tone, and style should all promote the same attitude. If your brand is promoting a blue-collar, work-hard play-hard style, then traversing the train tracks to the white-collar world of top shelf will fall flat. 

Use the “About” section of your website to lay the groundwork for developing a relationship with the consumer by revealing the personality behind the brand. Infuse your own passion into the anecdotes on how it all started and why you love doing what you do. By building a foundation and creating a personal relationship through website content, you’ll be able to fuel social campaigns, marketing materials, and pretty much everything else you’ll need to showcase the unique style and positioning of your brand. 

To build this foundation, you can write a voice & tone guide to reference internally. Mailchimp’s internal guide is an excellent example of how to structure your guide. Need help getting started? Contact High-Proof Creative today!

Social

The wonderful world of social media allows you to push your brand voice across all platforms and keep a flowing style and trend as you promote products, events, and drive engagement. Consistency is the name of the game, and by posting pictures with similar color hues, messages, and focus enables your audience to quickly identify you through the haze of the masses. 

Think about Aviation Gin; their campaign with Ryan Reynolds harnesses his sarcastic humor and dry wit to poke fun at craft spirit clichés while simultaneously promoting Aviation’s quality and process. It automatically pulls the consumer in with a tone that sets them apart from other spirit companies and brings them along for the ride. 

Koloa Rum from Hawaii takes a different approach by creating a defined island-lifestyle voice through their messages. By relying on their picture-perfect surroundings as a canvas for their product, Koloa is able to draw a parallel from their spirit to the embodiment of “vacation mode.” The voice and tone is as laid back as vacation itself. Who doesn’t want to drink a Mai Tai made with craft rum on the beach in Hawaii? 

Showcasing bright colors, quick commentary, and a viral lifestyle approach, Spindrift Sparkling Water is a prime example of how to be quick, cute, and engaging. Just like their tagline, “We like our drinks like we like our banter: pithy,” the brand showcases an on-the-go style with touches of relatable humor and a product-forward tone. 

Putting it Together

All of these brands have found their own avenues to define their voice and highlight their own unique elements. By using your voice clearly across platforms you’ll be able to reach more than just consumers. Bars, restaurants, and outlets will be able to understand who you are and relate to your style, which will introduce your product before contact, helping them to seek you out. 

Liquors and craft spirits need a brand voice more than most products because of regulations and marketing hurdles. Your voice is the first block in the foundation of trust you’re going to construct with your audience. Consumers want to understand you, your approach, and the quality of your product.

Drawing on inspiration from your process, the story behind it, and the people who make it are all essential elements for developing an authentic brand tone. By staying true to who you are and the original purpose of the brand, you’ll be able to follow a clear path for creating an engaging brand voice.

Having trouble developing a voice and tone that stands out from the competition? Send High-Proof Creative a message today. We can help you build your guide, and tell your story, too.